The Messenger 17
Introduction
If you want to know about God, salvation, morality, holiness, and the way in which God wants us to live in this world, the place to find it is within the pages of the Bible. If you want to know the truth about Jesus, then let the words of the Bible take you by the hand and lead you to Him.
Dr J Packer said of the Bible: “The collection (referring to the 66 books of the Bible) as a whole, once we start to explore it, proves to have an organic coherence that is simply stunning. Books written centuries apart seemed to be designed for the express purpose of supplementing and illuminating each other. Truly the unity of the Bible is miraculous, a sign and wonder challenging the unbelief of our sceptical age.”
The Messenger offers an encouragement to the reader to get into this amazing book and explore its teaching. Everything we need to know to grow and prosper in our life with God is to be found in its pages. The psalmist sums up its value for our life when he writes “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path” (Ps 119:105).
Heard, Believed, Sealed
In our reflection today we look at the final treasure of salvation we find in Ephesians 1.
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession” (1:13 -14).
Look carefully at the words that are underlined. Being in Christ (in union with Jesus Christ) is dependent on two things: firstly, on our hearing the word of truth and, secondly, on our believing the word of truth.
Hearing what? The word of truth. Believing what? The word of truth.
Let me invite you now to take a few minutes to reflect on two verses in the New Testament. The first is found in Heb 11:6 and the second is found in Rom 10:17.
Did you see the importance and connection between those two verses? The faith that pleases God, the faith that is essential for our being included in Christ, is directly related to our hearing the word of truth. It is true that we may hear and not believe, but we cannot really believe without hearing the word of truth. There is a wonderful illustration of the transformation that results from hearing and believing the word of truth. It appears in John Wesley’s diary dated 24th May 1738:
“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
The faith to believe and the word of truth are inseparably linked. Over the years I have seen many spurious conversions. I believe the problem has often been caused by the fact that what was offered to those people was less than the word of truth.
The word of truth that has been entrusted to the Church is not some kind of band-aid to treat the symptoms of our problems. It is never intended to offer short-term palliatives to ease the symptoms while avoiding a long-term remedy.
The word of truth has a way of ‘cutting to the chase.’ It gets right down to the cause of our problem. It challenges us at the very point of our need – our need to be set free from our rebellion against God. The Gospel is unambiguous when it comes to showing us just how powerless we are to put ourselves in a right standing with God. Its message is plain and uncompromising – there is no resurrection life without our dying to self (Rom chapter 6); there is no appropriation of God’s forgiveness without repentance (Acts 2:38).
The thought that we are all sinners needing forgiveness and needing to surrender our lives to God is offensive to many. They find, and there are preachers among them, that it is an entirely inappropriate message for our enlightened age.
Saving faith, the faith that connects us to Christ, however, arises from the word of truth. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthian Church:
“The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).
Never was a truer word written: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” (Jim Elliot).
Heard, Believed, Sealed – three words that express the biblical progression of being in Christ.
In a world where banks have failed, Governments have fallen, wars have turned a nation upside down, natural disasters have destroyed whole towns, and morals are quickly adapted to suit human preferences, nothing seems secure. So just how secure is our salvation? Can we lose our salvation once we have been saved? Can we fall away?
Two contrary views are held, both of which claim to have the support of Scripture. We are not going to debate the issue here, but let me point you to a wonderful treasure of our salvation that is exceedingly precious. Paul speaks of those who have heard the word of truth as having been “marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance…”
The idea of our having been marked with a seal indicates “ownership, authentication, security and destination” (W Vine – Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words). The down-payment has been made. The Lord will return to claim what is His.
The focus here is not on our own reliability or that of the world around us. It is on the reliability of the one who saved us. I am so glad it is not I trying to hold onto Him, but He who is holding on to me!
If you have a question or a comment about this series please feel free to write to me, Brian, at
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